A Valentine’s look at how men and women viewed my book covers differently

The song “Love Is All Around” played a starring role in the movie “Four Weddings And A Funeral” but for the past month, at least in this part of the world, it was definitely “Pink Is All Around”.

The store aisles have heaved with lurid pink cards, candy, and knick-knacks in preparation for February 14th – and a happy Valentine’s Day to you from me, although perhaps not in a bright pink kind of way.

Speaking of colours, I promised on Friday to let you know what happened after asking Moodnudges readers to vote for a cover for “Nudge Your Way To Happiness”.

Thank you to the Fantastic Four Hundred (and fifty-two) people who cast their vote, and to the many who left thoughtful, insightful and encouraging comments on the blog.

Topping the poll, pretty overwhelmingly actually, was the cover design with three weather symbols, showing a progression from a rainy day to a sunny one.

The concept needs work in terms of colours, fonts and layout (which may sound a lot) but it’s helpful to know that the basic idea was working.

It was also great to have learned that this was the one cover out of all five that appealed equally to women and men.

Interestingly, men tended to be drawn towards the concept with a “smiley meter” going from unhappy too happy (only a few women liked that one), while women tended to favour the idea showing a plant growing from a seedling to a blossoming flower (yes, you guessed, this one turned many men off).

But since the weather symbols cover got the most votes overall (more than a third of the total in fact) that’s the one we’re passing to our designer for some serious development and love.

Regular Moodnudges readers know I often talk about the way that constant learning can contribute to overall happiness, so perhaps you’ll take a moment to digest the findings of this little piece of research.

We were reminded (and I, of course, apologise for grossly oversimplifying) that men like measurement devices, women like natural things that grow, but sometimes it’s the weather that brings us together.

The weather “is all around us”. One can’t help noticing it. It’s interesting though that this is not just a British thing. This Winter has been one of the most depressing weather wise in the UK and not a day goes by when I don’t remark on it. Even the sheep this year have shown signs of depression or sadness according to the farmers! Weather affects our very being, it enables plants to grow and die and so on.
So I guess it isn’t surprising that the weather symbols for Jon’s book cover was the most popular. You must tell us Jon how the weather in California affects people there.

Things are definitely rough when even the sheep are showing signs of the blues.

Interesting question about people in California and the weather, Julia.

Although it’s pretty spring-like here right now, we had a spell of torrential rain for a week or so. It was the kind of weather which would have had people in the UK grumbling, but there’s actually a sense of gratitude here, almost, when the heavens properly open.

There’s such a big drought problem (and because of that, fire worries) that the rain is seen as a bit of a blessing.